December 06, 2004

Why Spitzer's targets go quietly

Despite muchgrumbling from business quarters about the New York attorney general's adventurous enforcement initiatives, virtually all his targets elect to settle with him rather than insist on their right to trial. The major exception, former NYSE head Richard Grasso, is an individual as distinct from a publicly traded corporation -- and that distinction is probably no coincidence, according to the reasoning of this piece by Michael Bobelian of the New York Law Journal. More from the same source on the Grasso case, noting that "Spitzer faces significant legal hurdles in showing that the former stock exchange CEO and chairman violated New York's nonprofit laws".